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What's your favorite cleaning stuff?

4K views 21 replies 20 participants last post by  satellite66 
#1 ·
It's probably a symptom of some dread disease, but I enjoy cleaning guns. Nice memories, and you can do it in a comfy chair in an air-conditioned room.

There's a bewildering array of cleaning stuff available, all claiming to be the greatest thing since Leonardo Da Vinci had to clean his catapult. Me, I've gotten good use out of a Patch Worm kit, Hoppes #9 and Break Free. I tried some Ballistol but couldn't stand the smell of banana oil. I don't expect cologne, but dammit, the stuff ought to smell like guns and not dentist drills.

Stumbled across Microlon Gun Juice during a web search not long ago. As it happens, I met the Microlon people in 1980 when they were getting ramped up and I was a magazine editor. They sent me samples of all sorts of wonderful things which I used on model airplane engines, chainsaw blades, bike chains and two cars. All I can say is, I got rid of the first car (Dodge van with the old slant six) at 200,000 miles because the body was about to fall off, and the second car (Ford Econoline conversion van) is at 240,000 miles and doing great. Several of the model airplane engines are still running too. I'm not counting the Enya .09 because those hand-lapped Enyas take 20 years to break in, but the Saito fourstroke twin in my 6-foot Cub is still purring, after being flown with floats off salt water. The Microlon seems to work.

I'm curious about what other folks use and recommend for cleaning chemicals, oils, preservatives, tools, whatever. You folks aren't exactly shy about your opinions, so let 'er rip!
 
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#6 ·
My favorite it Prolix® for all the guns, inside and out!
 

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#9 ·
The fastest way to clean a pistol bore is to start by submerging it in a circulating solvent washer, like the one's your auto mechanic uses. I have one and dousing the barrel off in the tank means that in a few patches with regular bore cleaner the bore is spotless. That's the good news. The bad news is that it removes every bit of the oil on the metal and you MUST wipe the outside and inside down with a oil soaked rag or patch.

I like the Otis System of pull through patches and their bore solvent for small calibers but for large calibers that tend to copper up in the bore Sweets is a good choice as it will not harm the barrel if removed in a reasonable amount of time (tens of minutes). I like the graphite rods with tight fitting jags to minimise the chance of the rod hurting the bore. For the final pass before an oily patch I use Hoppe's #9 as I do not like to leave an amonia based cleaner in the bore for storage of the gun.

LDBennett
 
#11 · (Edited)
i use foaming cleaner for mos teverything, but if i have something i want to shoot and keep a long time, and really maximize it's accuracy , i dunk for several days in a s.s. trough. Pour in the Sweetshooters. leave covered outside in a warm place for a few days. take out, never worry about rust again, and everything cleans up in a jif.
What does all this do , you ask. the sweetshooters, removes ANY even teeny tiny remoatest bit of any type of h20 , that might be locked up in pores somewhere. That controls, expansion, contraction , etc. it is also a super dry lube, I mean to tell you. when i took it out of the trough, and let it set for about 10 mins, i came back and it looked a ghostly grey white, i wiped all the parts down with a synthetic oil just to keep me from freakin' out! the sweetshooters is a great penetrant, and will also completely remove and carbon hiding anywhere, it's moecues are so small. The moly works much the same way , but is more of a wet lube. Avery good small pore filler for the inside of your bbls, and combines with the top layers of the inside of your bbl, to change the molecular level tension and friction of metal to metal contact. In other words, it is slicker than snot on a doorknob! helps also to keep a very uniform diameter opeining straight down the inside of the bbl, for better bullet / gas lock/ gripping as it goes down the bbl. Also gives better lubricity to the bullet as it moves down the bbl, with less bullet deformation.
Anyway, thats what i did. it is moa wihtopen sites, at 100 yds.
As an aside; i bought an old marlin mod 81 off an auction site, really wanted this rifle ,as it shoots all the 22 rounds, holds 25 shorts in the tube, and has a factory peep site! could not tell from the site pics how bad a shape it was in, but he had said it had no bluing, was rusty, and the action was rough. So i took a chance and bought it. when i got it , and took it out of the shipping box , IT WAS ORANGE! i was horrified to say the least. complete rust bucket. i remebered talking to the sweetshooters guy here a bunch, so i deciced to buy some at the next show and give it a shot.
took it out of the stock, stood it up vertically , and for the next week , every time i walked by the rifle, I toothbrushed it down, from muzzle to action, lightly scrubbing all the springs and stuff in the action, getting some down the muzzle , etc. had it standing in a shallow stainless pan.
After 1 week, except for no bluing whatsoever, it looked fantastic. So I decided to see if the guy was lying to me , about it totally keeping moisture away from all surfaces, and gave it a torture test. i put it in a fur type lined, 40 year old rifle bag, and put it in the back of my car, from march to the end of may. In Houston, that means you will go from cold drizzly weather, to humidity and heat in may and june being the same reading!
During this time, it rained in buckets, steamed up the inside of my car, plus when i put it in my trunk, my trunk is leaky!
I pulled it out , first week of June, and not one spot more of rust on it anywhere! I went back to the dude at the next gunshow, and showed him the rifle! he told me to write the company and tell them. Even he was pretty impressed with that one.




no rubbing or buffing of any kind, and look how shiny and clean this thing looks,after leaving it in my car, i
have fired a 1000 rounds through it , and have not cleaned it yet! look at the bolt , handle, trigger and mag pusher. remember this thing is 70 years old, and was completely pitted over , and a total rust bucket.
I just remembered one more thing, if you use this on your saiga, since they are not blued and just basically painted, let it thoroughly air dry! if you wipe it off while it is still damp, it will be under your paint, and will wipe it right off! So let it dry thoroughly, i started to wipe mine off, just a little on the rear right of the receiver, and the paint start to swirl on me! so i stopped immediately.
 
#12 ·
Bore Butter and number thirteen i clean all the guns we own and i clean them like a iwould a black powder gun they shine like brandnew. For gun oil we use lucas machine&gun lubracant lots of parts stores carry it hold it upside down and nothing drips out the top but it spreads on nice and smooth. (unlike remi gunoil.)
 
#18 · (Edited)
Hoppes. Doesn't matter that it works ... should be the same smell in an after shave.

An OLD friend and competition shooter taught me to use a 'tea pot'. Remove wood from gun, get the kettle boiling and pour it on and through. Really strips the gunk and evaporates immediately due to the temperature. You were gonna wipe it down anyway, right!:eek: Yep, for real!
 
#20 ·
for a .22LR: nothing, I wipe it down with an oily rag. I have a .22 that I found in a barn covered on the outside with rust nearly 40 years ago. The bore was fine in spite of the neglect, and after another 40 years of not cleaning the bore this gun made in the early '20's is still shooting just fine.
 
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